The Art of Perseverance
by chibichernikova
Summary: Sophia is a girl who lives in a village in the shadow of Mt. Ebott. The desire to write a new story and general curiosity lead her to climb the mountain, and what she finds there is far more than she bargained for.


**_A/N: Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first chapter of my first Undertale fanfic. To keep it short, basically, as I played through the game and learned more things about the characters and such, I grew curious about the previous six children that had made it down to the Underground. Therefore, this little idea of mine was born. I hope you enjoy it, and I'm sorry if I got any details wrong or anything like that. Reviews are always welcome and appreciated, but never required. Thanks for reading!_**

* * *

 _A long time ago, humans and monsters lived together. Then a war began, in which the humans were stronger. They forced the monsters underground, and seven powerful mages locked them there underneath a barrier, never to plague the surface again._

That was how the story went.

In her twelve years, Sophia had heard it countless times. She'd heard it in school from her teacher. She had heard it at home, in front of the fire, as her mother brushed through her black hair. She had heard it in lectures, for whenever she expressed her curiosity as to what lay beyond her village, her father was more than eager to persuade the idea from her head.

She was not allowed to go beyond the village, especially not up that mountain that lay in the horizon.

But why, she had always asked? Why couldn't she go up there? Didn't he know that adventures were on that mountain, adventures that needed their stories told? Didn't he know that she was supposed to write those stories, so everyone else could read them?

He had always brushed her off with that "because I said so" reason. It was always the same. Every grownup said that.

"Because I said so, that's why."

It was aggravating.

Why did grownups think they knew everything, anyway?

It was this thought in her mind as she was outside today. She was seated underneath a tree, her glasses sliding down her nose, her notebook open on her lap, covered in the childish scratch that was her writing. Sophia enjoyed writing; she always had. To her, making up her own little worlds with their own little people was the best thing in the world. She made up her friends when otherwise she had none, for the other children in the village teased her for always carrying her notebook with her. It wasn't that she didn't want to play with them, it was just… she liked playing in her own worlds better.

She looked up, pushing her glasses back up. She could see the forbidden mountain; her village wasn't that far from it. If only she could go there… she could make it. She could walk. It wasn't as if she hadn't walked places before, after all. Her brown eyes narrowed in thought. She wanted to go up there… just to see what was there.

There had to be a reason why everyone said no, right?

She looked back down at her notebook. This one had a story in it about a princess who was locked in a dungeon, but who could still see the outside from a window in her cell. This story was going to be Sophia's best story yet. She picked up her pencil from the grass beneath her and wrote one more sentence.

 _She wanted to go see what was out there._

"Sophia!"

The voice of her mother called to her, and Sophia peered from behind the tree. There she was, her mother, small and petite, standing at the back door. Sophia sighed, closed her notebook, and went back to the house.

"What were you doing out there?" her mother asked, patting her shoulder and ushering her inside.

"I was writing," Sophia answered. "My princess story is going great, but I still don't know what to call it!"

"Has she made it outside the dungeon yet?" As they went to the kitchen, her mother went to the counter, picking up a plate of food and bringing it to her.

"Not yet." Sophia frowned at the food on the plate. Vegetables again. She'd always hated vegetables. "I don't know how to get her out yet. She can't get out by herself, she doesn't have anything to do it with."

"Well, maybe there's a handsome prince waiting to rescue her," her mother said, sitting down at the table with her. "Maybe you should write about him while the princess is waiting."

"Maybe," Sophia replied, poking at the cauliflower on her plate. "Mom? Can I go to the mountain? I feel like there's cool stuff up there I could write about."

Her mother sighed. "Sophia, we've talked about this. You can't go up the mountain. It's dangerous up there. What would happen if you got lost?"

Sophia echoed that sigh, then stabbed a piece of meat with her fork. "At least that's a better answer than what Dad always says." _Even though that's not going to keep me from wanting to go up there._

"You'd do well to listen to your father. Now eat your cauliflower."

* * *

The sun had set, and Sophia was in her bedroom, clad in pajamas and sitting on her bed. Her notebook lay on the nightstand next to the bed, and she was currently reading a regular book. She had many books; her shelves were full of them. In fact, she had more books than toys, but that was a fact that was just fine with her.

The small room was lit only by the lamp on the nightstand, which caused everything further away to be cast in shadow. If she was a bit younger, Sophia would have been afraid of the shadows, but since she was older now, she knew the truth behind them. Nothing hid in shadows.

A knock sounded on the door, and Sophia looked up to see her father entering the room. He was a tall man, with black hair cut close to his scalp, and he wore a strict look quite often. His eyes were warm now, however, as he walked over to sit on her bed.

"I'm not surprised you're still awake," he said, rubbing the top of her head briefly. "My little bookworm. You do know you have to sleep eventually, right?"

"I know," Sophia answered, setting down the book and looking out the window. "Are you ever going to tell me why I can't go up the mountain?"

Her father sighed with the air of a man who had been asked the same questions far too many times to be tolerable. "You'll learn eventually. For now… it's because I said so." He chuckled, then leaned over to kiss the top of her head. "Now. Go to sleep, my little bookworm. I love you."

"I love you too, Dad," she replied, scooting down until she was laying under the covers. She sighed as he turned off her lamp and left the room, and she turned over to stare out the window.

She was going to go up that mountain. Nobody was going to stop her. All she would have to do was sneak out once everyone was asleep…

 _That's it. I'm going. I want to see what's up there._


End file.
